Chapter 44: Becoming a Chieftain

Old Chief Mian Xiong looked at the huge group in front of him and was so shocked that he was speechless. He was an elder and had naturally seen some scenes, but he had forgotten when was the last time he saw so many people.

"What, what's going on?" He looked at the stone crows and horse whistles in front of the team.

Stone Crow smiled and said, "Chief, we defeated the Arapaho in the south of the plateau. I think you already know this news."

"That's right, and I also heard... it was Ma Shao who led you to win the war?" The old chief asked again with a little disbelief.

Although Ma Shao was undoubtedly an outstanding young man, it still sounds a little incredible that he led the Apache to defeat the Arapaho.

Stone Crow went on to say, "That victory was definitely more exciting than you can imagine! Because of this, many clans were willing to follow Ma Shao and become part of the Sleeping Bear Clan."

The old chief was stunned for a moment.

Then, as if he had thought of something, he patted Ma Shao on the shoulder without hesitation and said with a smile on his face: "In that case, Ma Shao, you are now the chief of the Mianxiong clan! I knew that you would become our hero!"

After these words were spoken, everyone looked at each other in surprise.

Although anyone with a discerning eye can see that Ma Shao is more suitable to be the leader of the clan now, after all, so many people joined the Mianxiong clan just for him.

But it was still surprising that the old chief was so willing to give way to someone else. Normally, he should have thought about it for a while, right?

Ma Shao even heard a hint of impatience and eagerness in the old chief's tone...

How is this going?

The old chief did not explain the reason, but happily organized the tribal reunion ceremony and succession ceremony, and the next day he officially handed over the position of chief to Ma Shao.

At the same time, the name used by successive chiefs was given to Ma Shao, which was the same name as the clan, "Sleeping Bear".

"Every chief of the Sleeping Bear clan inherits this name, and now it is yours," the old chief said during the ceremony, handing over his pipe, "and this pipe."

Ma Shao hesitated and said, "I don't think a name is necessary. I've already gotten used to my current name."

"No, this is the clan's tradition. You can continue to use the name 'Ma Shao', but as a chief, you must inherit the name of Sleeping Bear." The old chief insisted.

"Okay then." Ma Shao had no choice but to accept the name as a title. He also accepted the pipe, thinking it would encourage the old chief to quit smoking, until the old chief took out a brand new one.

The old chief gave himself a new name, and said with emotion: "From now on, I will be called 'Old Bear'...Alas, I am getting old."

"Let's cheer for the new chief!"

"Chief! Chief!" people shouted around the campfire.

The warriors who had defeated the Arapaho under Ma Shao's leadership were even more excited about the appearance of such a brave and warlike chief.

They shouted out the unique slogans taught by Ma Shao.

"Hurrah!"

"Hurrah--Hurrah!"

Although the others were confused, they couldn't help but shout along after hearing the strong and rhythmic shouts.

"Hula! Hula!"

Soon, everyone was shouting "Ura", shaking the night sky, and the blazing fire in the center of the camp seemed to be dancing to the rhythm.

Thousands of people shouted "Ura", the atmosphere was unprecedentedly warm, and many Apaches had never seen such a scene in their lives.

Ma Shao also sang several songs for the tribesmen, and then ate roast beef with everyone.

"Brother Whistle, did you really defeat a thousand Arapaho people?" The little beast felt like he was dreaming. After not seeing him for a few months, the Brother Whistle he was familiar with turned out to be an Apache hero admired by thousands of people.

"Now you have to call me Chieftain," Thick Shoulders corrected.

"Oh... Chief, Chief." The little beast felt very uncomfortable.

"No need." Ma Shao didn't care and waved his hand. "Except in formal occasions, you can just call me as you used to."

The little bastard smiled frivolously and called out, "Hey, Brother Whistle."

"..."Ma Shao looked at his expression and suddenly felt a little regretful.

Thick Shoulders continued the previous topic: "Do you still have any doubts? Look at the chief's head - hey, why do you still have nine eagle feathers on your head, Chief?"

"Nine is fine. It's troublesome to make a war crown." Ma Shao originally liked the eagle feather war crown, but he no longer had any interest in it after he captured the crow alive. Wouldn't it attract firepower on the battlefield?

The war crown was also troublesome to wear on a daily basis, so he simply continued to wear these nine feathers as a token of his appreciation.

Everyone was eating barbecue and chatting when Hong Nu came over. Since she joined the Mianxiong clan, she has been quite prestigious among the women.

"Chief." She smiled and seemed to have something to say.

"What's wrong?"

"Chief, you are fourteen years old this year, right?" asked the red girl.

"Yeah." Ma Shao nodded. In fact, he was still a few months away from turning fourteen.

Hongnv said slowly: "Fourteen years old, this is almost the age for marriage..."

The little beast's eyes suddenly lit up at this moment, and he interrupted, "Aunt, are you going to marry my sister to Brother Shaozi? That's great, now she can finally stop bothering me!"

Hongnv was silent for two seconds.

Ma Shao said at this time: "Fourteen is too young to consider getting married. Not only me, but everyone in the clan must be eighteen years old before they can get married and have children."

Population is certainly important, but childbearing is not the best way to obtain population, and early marriage and early childbearing are certainly not the best ways.

For savages who are closer to animals, reproduction may be their only option - they don't have much assimilation ability anyway.

But Ma Shao is not an ancient man or a barbarian, he is a teacher of the 21st century and a teacher with outstanding professional skills.

For him, assimilation was a far better demographic strategy than reproduction.

Even if he chooses to encourage childbirth, he will never encourage early marriage and early childbearing.

From a scientific and utilitarian point of view, the best childbearing age is around 28 years old. If you choose to give birth during this period, the risks to the mother and baby will be minimized, and the baby will develop better.

This has nothing to do with life expectancy.

After all, no matter what the optimal childbearing age is, there will always be people who don't live to that age.

Moreover, the average life expectancy in ancient times was 20 to 30 years old, so this statement is actually a typical misunderstanding.

Figures like 20 or 30 years old are calculated after taking into account the deaths in childhood. If we don't take into account the deaths in childhood, the average life expectancy is still around 40 or 50 years old.

One of the important causes of premature death is early marriage and early childbearing.

It is now the middle of the 19th century, and a series of technological and social innovations are about to come. Ma Shao is confident that this process can be greatly accelerated to quickly reduce the population mortality rate.

Anyone who has taken high school geography knows that a decline in the mortality rate can lead to a rapid increase in population.

"Getting married at the age of eighteen?" Hongnv asked in surprise. Compared with the Indian tradition of early marriage, this is indeed too late.

"That's right, remember one thing - early marriage leads to weak offspring. This matter is settled." Ma Shao had no intention of compromising further.

This became his first order as Chief of Sleeping Bear.

The next day, Ma Shao finally understood why Old Bear was so eager to give up the position of chief to him.

Early in the morning, he sat in his tent, thinking about how to arrange the division of labor among his tribesmen, until the old bear came to him.

"Chief." The old bear entered the tent and sat down, frowning and saying hesitantly, "There is one thing I have to tell you about the Comanches."

"Comanche?" Ma Shao asked in surprise.

"It's the Twin Wolf Clan in the south." The old bear reminded, "During your expedition, we had some... uh, complicated disputes with the Twin Wolf Clan and the white people."

"Specifically, the Twin Wolf Clan sold our land to the white people."

Ma Shao was completely confused.

The Comanche sold the Apache land to the white people?

What the hell?

"You know, although we have lived in peace with the Twin Wolf Clan for a long time without any conflicts," said the old bear slowly, "we are latecomers. The Twin Wolf Clan is the clan that has settled here the longest, so they claim that the land here is theirs," said the old bear slowly.

"They've been struggling financially lately, so they've sold a lot of land to white people, including a large area where we are."

Finally he sighed: "I should have listened to your advice and provided some help to the Twin Wolf Clan. Alas."